I rarely post, but have greatly enjoyed your blog for years. It has actually been one of my long time dreams to move out to the far country and make a living raising sheep.

I've read tons of books about sheep farming and what not to try and figure out how to make it. But since you've been doing this so long, I was wondering if you might be willing to share some info with me. Do you manage a living just on sheep farming and yearly local wool/meat sales? What other sources of income do you use with living so remotely?

Anne,Actually, those aren't baby sheep - we won't start lambing until the first of April. This guy (yes, another pet wether - don't tell Joe! ; ) is pretty good sized, but he looks so much bigger because he's standing on the bale of hay I've just tossed over the fence and am about to carry over to their feed bunks. He does this every day - and then while I'm lugging the bale to the feeder, he tries to jump on it again!

Athena,Ah, I really do need to get that Frequently Asked Farmgirl Questions page done. Your questions will be near the top of the list! : )

Unfortunately (and despite living very frugally - and in a falling down shack for years, LOL) the farm does not support us 100% at this time. In fact, I don't know anybody who raises sheep (or farms anything for that matter) who does not rely on some sort of off farm income, including us.

There are definitely some financial advantages to living in a remote area like we do - the biggest being the lower cost of land. But the economy here was struggling even before the 'recession,' and jobs are always scarce. An $8 an hour position (probably doing physical work with no benefits) is considered a good job if you can get it. And there simply isn't much of a market here for higher end food products - which is essentially anything not raised/grown/manufactured by corporate factory farms and agribusiness.

If I were to do it all over again, I would spend more money and buy land that was closer to a major metropolitan area with an 'upscale' buying population (and closer to the ocean, but that's just me!). I believe the added expense would be worth it in the long run.

If you dream about moving to a farm and raising animals, I say go for it. If you're willing to work very hard (including possibly an off farm 'regular' job) and give up some of the everyday luxuries and/or conveniences you may be used to, it will all somehow work out. Of course it helps if you love being surrounded by cute. : )

I really appreciate your great answer :). The surrounded by cute is a big allure for sure! Which is why I'm hooked on owning bunnies! Being closer to the ocean is a big one for me too, I haven't been able to leave the west coast because of that, despite the rising costs near metropolitan areas.

I've heard about the $8/hr jobs being really sought after in rural areas, but I wasn't sure if that was still true to keep the farm going.

People are simply crazy, to have naturally raised lamb in the area and not be lining up to buy it! My mom would faint to know that, lol.. she adores lamb and all we find is frozen lamb from Australia.

January 2013 update: I know word verification is a big pain, but it's the only way I can stop the ridiculous number of anonymous spam comments I get every day. I don't want to require commenters to be registered Blogger or Open ID users because I know many of you aren't. Thanks so much for your understanding!

Hi! Thanks for visiting Farmgirl Fare and taking the time to write. While I'm not always able to reply to every comment, I receive and enjoy reading them all.

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